Jim Moran and Light Of Truth Ministries

Mr. Jim Moran spent many years studying the "Local Church", wrote a lengthy analysis of the movement from a primarily theological standpoint, and operated a "Local Church" focused counter-cult ministry called "Light Of Truth Ministries".

Unfortunately, Jim Moran passed away unexpectedly in January of 2003. During subsequent months, the "Local Church", represented by The Church In Fullerton, purchased ownership of all Mr. Moran's research material, websites and copyrights from his estate. Since then, The Church In Fullerton has been exercising its ownership of those copyrights by demanding the removal of all Mr. Moran's works from distribution.

On June 17, 2003, the editor received an email from representatives of The Church In Fullerton, demanding that all Jim Moran's writings and compilations currently published on this web site be removed. The text of this letter is included below.

Dear Mr. Azuma:

We are writing to you on behalf of The Church in Fullerton to inform you of apparent copyright infringement found on your web site: http://dazuma.freeshell.org/lcinfo.

As you may know, in April of this year representatives of The Church in Fullerton contacted the executor of Mr. Moran's estate and purchased all of Mr. Moran's websites, articles, publications, postings, copyrights, trade names, trademarks and correspondence concerning the Local Church that were authored, created, assembled, collected or arranged by Mr. Moran ("the Works"). Because you currently have posted on your website numerous articles and sound files included in the Works, we are writing to inform you that any and all previous permissions or licenses to utilize and distribute the Works have been revoked (see also http://www.ltm.org/info.html). Therefore, as the new owner with the exclusive right to distribute the Works, we request that you remove these materials from your website.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. If you have any questions you can reach us at the above address or by email at: djsady@aol.com.

Respectfully,

Daniel E. Towle
Daniel J. Sady
For The Church in Fullerton Corporation

The editor concurs that The Church In Fullerton is within their legal rights to ask for the removal of material copyrighted by Mr. Moran, and has complied with the request. The extensive library of writings authored by Jim Moran and previously available at this site remain on file with the editor but are no longer available for viewing.

As another consequence of these events, Internet addresses previously owned by Jim Moran or Light Of Truth Ministries, including the Light Of Truth Ministries home page located at http://www.ltm.org and http://www.thelocalchurch.org, are now owned and controlled by the "Local Church" movement. Therefore, visitors to those sites should note that material posted there now are not likely to reflect Mr. Moran's original intent.

It is the editor's opinion that the "Local Church" movement, represented by The Church In Fullerton, has taken advantage of Mr. Moran's death and has purchased the rights to his writings for the sole purpose of preventing them from reaching the public eye. Jim Moran was very critical of the "Local Church" movement from a theological perspective, and considered it to be a cult. His writings reflected that viewpoint, and they provided a significant amount of evidence that would have damaged the "Local Church"s efforts to portray themselves to outsiders as a mainstream, orthodox Christian movement. It is not surprising that the movement was not happy with such writings being available; however, this does not provide moral justification for their actions. By using the legal system to artificially quell viewpoints in conflict with their own, the "Local Church" is engaging in a campaign of deception against the Christian church as a whole. This is the same tactic used by many if not most other modern cults.

Representatives and members of the "Local Church" movement have repeatedly and insistently blanket-labeled Jim Moran's work as false and defamatory, but have not, to the editor's knowledge, been forthcoming with details or evidence for their complaint. This tactic is known in the business world as spreading "FUD" (fear, uncertainty, doubt) and is generally considered to be poor sportsmanship engaged in by organizations with no other recourse. Therefore, the editor urges the "Local Church" to:

Having examined the writings in question thoroughly, the editor acknowledges that he finds some of Mr. Moran's claims and conclusions to be on shaky logical and theological grounds. However, the actions of the "Local Church" in this matter cast a much more dubious light on the viewpoint of their movement, and ultimately, the movement's nature.